Private Violin Study for Serious Adult Violinists
A highly individualized approach to technique, tone, and artistic freedom.
Online Private Lessons with Heather
Private study at the Broadbent School of Violin Artistry is designed for dedicated adult violinists who want precise, individualized guidance in their playing.
You may be struggling with tone, intonation, shifting, coordination, tension, or a technical problem that keeps returning despite consistent practice. Or you may simply know that something in your playing is not yet functioning as freely or reliably as it could.
In our work together, we identify what is actually limiting your playing, determine the technical or musical work needed, and build a clear path forward.
Private sessions are focused, practical, and highly individualized. Rather than applying the same sequence to every violinist, I listen to what is happening in your playing and work from there.
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What May Change in Your Playing
Private study is designed to create changes that you can both hear and feel in your playing.
Depending on your individual needs, you may develop:
Greater Physical Freedom
A more balanced relationship with the violin, less unnecessary effort, and greater freedom of movement throughout the body, arms, and hands.
More Reliable Technique
Greater security in finger placement, intonation, shifting, position work, bow control, coordination, and other technical demands.
A More Responsive Sound
Greater clarity, resonance, tonal control, and freedom in the bow, with technique increasingly able to respond to the sound you want to create.
More Effective Practice
A clearer understanding of what is causing a problem, how to isolate it, and which exercises or practice strategies are most likely to change it.
Greater Musical Freedom
As technique becomes more organized and reliable, more of your attention can move away from managing the instrument and toward phrasing, expression, character, and the music itself.
Technical Areas We May Address
The exact direction of our work depends on your playing, but areas of study may include:
- Tone production and bow clarity
- Whole-body posture and balance
- Franco-Belgian bow hold and right-hand coordination
- Efficient left-hand organization
- Intonation and listening
- Shifting and position security
- Vibrato freedom and control
- Scales, études, and technical studies
- Practice structure and problem-solving
- Applying technical work directly to repertoire
A School Rooted in Lineage
The Broadbent School of Violin Artistry stands within a clear pedagogical lineage.
Leopold Auer — Technical clarity in service of musical truth
Eugène Ysaÿe — Individuality, freedom, and tone as voice
But a pedagogical tradition should not remain frozen in time.
My teaching is continually informed by the study of historical violin pedagogy, technical treatises, études, methods, and the work of the great violin schools, alongside more than three decades of teaching and performing.
I return constantly to the literature of violin playing—examining how earlier pedagogues understood technique, testing those ideas at the instrument, and considering how they can illuminate the problems violinists encounter today.
The result is not adherence to a single method, but a living approach to violin pedagogy: rooted in tradition, strengthened by research, and refined through practice.
Technique serves sound. Discipline supports artistry. And technical study ultimately exists to give the violinist greater freedom to express the music.
Bow Work and Ergonomics
I teach the Franco-Belgian bow hold with particular attention to flexibility, weight transfer, and natural movement.
But ergonomic principles extend beyond the bow. The organization of the body, arms, hands, and instrument all influence the ease and reliability with which technique can function.
Years of unnecessary tension are common among adult violinists. Our work examines where effort is needed, where it is not, and how movement can be organized more efficiently.
As unnecessary tension decreases and coordination improves, sound production becomes clearer, movement becomes more reliable, and increasingly sophisticated technique becomes possible without relying on force.
The goal is not simply to make playing physically easier. It is to create the freedom necessary for sound, technique, and musical intention to work together.
Private Study
All sessions take place online via Zoom.
Private study centers on demonstration, listening, experimentation, and careful refinement. We work directly with your playing, using scales, exercises, études, and repertoire as needed to address the technical and musical priorities we identify together.
Private students receive:
- A secure Zoom lesson link
- Written session notes in a shared document
- Relevant exercises, resources, and references between lessons
- A clear direction for the work to continue between sessions
When published exercises, études, or repertoire are recommended, students obtain their own copies unless otherwise noted. Public-domain material is used whenever appropriate.
Online study allows us to work with considerable detail while maintaining continuity from one session to the next.
Student Experiences
Many violinists — including adult learners, teachers, and professional players — have studied privately at the Broadbent School of Violin Artistry.
Begin Your Private Study
Private study begins with a 45-minute diagnostic session.
Bring your violin, one scale appropriate to your level, and a short passage of repertoire that represents your current playing.
During our session, I will listen closely to your playing, identify the technical or musical issues that are most affecting your progress, and help you understand where your work needs to begin.
If we decide that continued private study is the right next step, you can continue through one of my Private Violin Study packages.
Private Violin Diagnostic Session
45 minutes · $100